Eumidian WastewakerEumidian Wastewaker | Art by Mathias Kollros

From Final Fantasy to the Final Frontier, Magic's newest set has arrived: Edge of Eternities!

This space epic seems to have just about everything: Spaceships, Planets, Robots, even sentient Kavu. Now while this set unfortunately doesn't feature any Minotaurs, there are still plenty of new cards that can assist Minotaur typal strategies.

For those new to my reviews, I analyze cards from the perspective of Minotaur typal and how they can be used in the various sub strategies available, those currently being Aggressive Combat, Discard, and Magar Big Spells. Each has their own nuances, but all broadly rely on the same core Minotaur typal backbone.

So with that, lets engage our warp-drives and blast into the vast worlds of Edge of Eternities.

Eumidian WastewakerEumidian Wastewaker

Wastewalker wasn’t something that initially impressed me. At four mana I figure I can do a lot more, especially since it doesn’t do anything when it’s played.

However, when I examined the Insect further, I realized that while it might not be an amazing tempo play, its unique synergies with Minotaur decks make up for its short comings.

WastewalkerWastewalker has the interesting trait of being able to slot into discard Minotaurdiscard Minotaur decks or fill in the weaker sacrifice theme of Minotaurssacrifice theme of Minotaurs. It facilitates the synergies while also refueling our hand when lands are removed with its effect.

This allows us to get rid of unwanted lands when we’re flooding and dig deeper into our deck, while also disincentivizing our opponents from doing the same and encourage them to pitch a more useful nonland card.

Finally, if the Wastewalker is removed before it can attack, we can always rely on its encore ability at a latter point in the game to regain our advantage on the board.

Evendo BrushrazerEvendo Brushrazer

Brushrazer adds more support to the weak Minotaur sacrifice theme, but in a most interesting way. The problem with sacrifice themes is common with discard themes, you have to remove your own resources and card advantage to gain an effect. So, for an effect to be worthwhile, the sacrifice needs to target an opponent or to replenish what you're losing.

With BrushrazerBrushrazer this is present in that it creates neutral card advantage by exiling a card when we sacrifice a nonland permanent. The exiled card can be played any time we sacrifice a nonland permanent. At the same time, we can sacrifice a land to generate two red mana, allowing us to accelerate in the short term.

However, this means losing the long-term potential mana the sacrificed land would create.

All this combined will lead to more consistent games for those that pursue a sacrifice themed Minotaur deck.

Long-Range SensorLong-Range Sensor

What I love about this card for Minotaurs is how it rewards playing aggressively. Minotaur typal is very combat focused, and so we need to squeeze every advantage from combat as possible. Sensor in EDH means that every turn, we potentially add three charge counters to it so the next turn we can discover 4.

Discover 4 is huge for us because the mana curve of Minotaur decks exists in the two to four mana range. This means due to the lack of ramp options in Rakdos colors, we're effectively mana cheating out cards we might not otherwise have played.

And to me, any card that's accelerating Minotaurs is a worthy card to be playing.

Archenemy's CharmArchenemy's Charm

This newest addition to the long line of Charm spells is very interesting. Looking at it, nothing about this versatile spell is explicitly synergistic with Minotaur strategies. It removes a blocker, returns some of our dead creatures, or powers up one creature.

Normally when looking at new cards, I’m looking at how they can directly benefit the Minotaur typal strategies that have been explored in the past. But that's why I think so highly about this card.

Archenemy's CharmArchenemy's Charm is not a synergistic card, but it is something that we need. Every choice presented is something that we would need at any point in a game of EDH. By being less synergistic, it becomes more flexible and so it creates more interesting choices for us.

The Charm, therefore, adds more by being a versatile piece to the whole, than it ever could as a piece of synergy. Sometimes the best card in a situation is the card the fits every situation.

Chorale of the VoidChorale of the Void

What I like about Chorale of the VoidChorale of the Void is that it gets better the longer the game goes on. As the game progresses, our opponents will be filling up their graveyards and giving us more targets for Chorale to steal. The added fact that the stolen creatures are tapped and attacking will make combat against that opponent even more devastating.

The downside of Chorale is that it will bury itself unless a permanent left the battlefield or was warped. However, this actually isn’t much of a downside. Given how most combat phases will go, we will inevitably lose Minotaurs, and their deaths will keep Chorale in play.

Alternatively, if we have an Altar of DementiaAltar of Dementia, we can sacrifice the stolen creature to mill our opponent so we have more targets for the next turn.

It should also be noted that cards like Maskwood NexusMaskwood Nexus or ConspiracyConspiracy are also very valuable as they can make the stolen creatures into Minotaurs. This means they gain access to our Minotaur synergies like Rageblood ShamanRageblood Shaman and Kragma WarcallerKragma Warcaller.

Elegy AcolyteElegy Acolyte

Is there anything better feeling than drawing cards? Maybe when it also involves damaging our opponents, which is what Elegy AcolyteElegy Acolyte offers us. Essentially, Elegy Acolyte acts like a Phyrexian ArenaPhyrexian Arena that triggers each time a creature of ours hits an opponent.

This is important for Minotaurs, given how combat focused they are, as it offers a chance to refuel our hand. Minotaur decks can often find themselves stuck, either from discarding too many cards playing out our hand, or to keep up the combat pressure.

Which is why it’s not uncommon to play wheel cards. But the Acolyte offers another way to keep up the pressure, which I’m very excited for.

The Robot tokens it generates are just icing on the cake, but also welcome as a means to defend ourselves if we extend too much in combat.

Sothera, the SupervoidSothera, the Supervoid

I see Sothera being an excellent safety net for Minotaur decks. The biggest problem is that we win through combat, meaning we have to put our creatures on the line. In general, combat favors the blockers, so Sothera offers an equalizer. It forces a hard decision, as each Minotaur that dies will force each opponent to exile a creature they control.

In practice having this in play will make it more likely for damage to go unblocked, or at the very least chumped. Anyone that decides to block and kill a Minotaur is also harming the other opponents and has potential to curry some political favor.

And even if a player were to decide to board wipe, SotheraSothera will give us one of the creatures it exiled, allowing us a chance to rebuild our board state and not fall too far behind.

Devastating OnslaughtDevastating Onslaught

Devastating Onslaught seems very versatile for what it does. Being able to create innumerable amounts of copies of an artifact or creature with haste is certainly another way to win with infinite mana; but for Minotaurs I see another possibility.

With a classic Minotaur typal deck, we’re usually wining with the combined efforts of our Minotaur lordsMinotaur lords, and beefy big hitters - cards that can turn a dinky Hurloon MinotaurHurloon Minotaur into a threat.

To that end, Devasating Onslaught lives up to its name. The main problem I foresee with playing it is how bad Rakdos decks are at ramping. Red has ways to generate a lot of temporary mana, but otherwise we have to rely on mana rocks to create enough mana to make Onslaught a worthwhile addition to our decks.

Tannuk, Steadfast SecondTannuk, Steadfast Second

If there is one thing Minotaur typal needs, its more creatures that act as keyword lords. TannukTannuk here fits that bill by giving all other creatures we control haste.

In addition to that he has the added benefit of giving any artifact or red creatures in hand the ability of warp for three mana. Now on its surface this helps the other cards we’ve mentioned in this review, such as Chorale of the VoidChorale of the Void and Elegy AcolyteElegy Acolyte. However the depth of this goes deeper.

Most Minotaurs we play are red and cost on average three mana, meaning there isn’t a huge incentive to warp them in. However, some of our heavy hitter Minotaurs, like Moraug, Fury of AkoumMoraug, Fury of Akoum, Neheb, the EternalNeheb, the Eternal, Fanatic of MogisFanatic of Mogis, and Sethron, Hurloon GeneralSethron, Hurloon General, can be used to great effect.

By cheating them into play for a turn we can dramatically change the tide of battle. And if they survive we can replay them later from exile at little risk of disruption from our opponents.

Mutinous MassacreMutinous Massacre

Mutinous Massacre looks perfect in a Magar of the Magic StringsMagar of the Magic Strings deck. Magar’s entire strategy revolves around getting big spells in the graveyard so his tokens can recast them when dealing damage to players.

So, Massacre here is perfect to help us get around blockers. Normally we play spells or Equipment that make the tokens unblockable. When we play Massacre, the idea will be to choose "odd" and destroy all odd mana value creatures, then we steal all even mana value creatures (otherwise we would destroy Magar’s tokens).

This will create the greatest opportunity for us, as the entire board will be clear and allow for our tokens to freely attack and recast the spells connected to them.

Unfortunately, MassacreMassacre isn’t a spell that Magar wants to repeat using his tokens, as the primary benefit of the spells happens if it’s played before combat, not after. That is unless its used as a pseudo-board wipe.

If we have a sac outlet like Phyrexian AltarPhyrexian Altar, and Whispersilk CloakWhispersilk Cloak, we can repeatedly nuke odd mana value creatures, steal the even valued ones, then sac them for mana. This will lock out any other creature-based strategies our opponents might have and ensure we can recast out spells unimpeded.

Conclusion

And with that our tour around the Chaos Wall at the Edge of Eternities comes to a close. I was really impressed by how Magic managed to tackle a sci-fi setting while still feeling like a Magic set. After Murders at Karlov Manor and Thunder Junction I lost some faith in the game's ability to build a world that wasn't just characters in hats.

Lets hope that continues as we head towards the Universe Beyond sets of Spider-Man and Avatar.

Until next time, be sure to check out the other set reviews found on EDHREC for more broader analysis on everything Edge of Eternities has to offer.

More Edge: